Category Archives: F1 News

Pirelli has confirmed the tyre testing schedule for the three in-season tests. The rules require each team to devote one of its six precious days to working for the Italian company.

The significance of the timing is that in theory when a team is tyre testing it is not working on developing its car.

In addition there is a test in Abu Dhabi at the end of the year when all teams will run the 2015 tyres.

The schedule is as follows:

Bahrain test (8-9 April)
Day1: CATERHAM
Day2: MERCEDES and WILLIAMS

Barcelona test (13-14 May)
Day1: SAUBER and TORO ROSSO
Day2: McLAREN and FORCE INDIA

Silverstone test (8-9 July)
Day1: FERRARI and LOTUS
Day2: RED BULL and MARUSSIA

Michael Schumacher’s management has once again been forced to counter media reports about the former World Champion’s condition.

Inevitably the lack of any recent official reports has led to speculation.

A statement from Sabine Kehm today read: “Michael is still in the wake up phase. The situation has not changed. Any information published which is not confirmed by the team of doctors treating Michael or his management has to be considered as not valid.”

It’s encouraging to report that former McLaren leading light Tyler Alexander is recovering well after being taken ill last month.

A McLaren spokesman told this blog: “Tyler is currently undergoing rehabilitation after suffering a stroke in early February. He’s in excellent care and is making very good progress. He’s grateful for all the support and affection he’s receiving.”

Alexander was one of the original McLaren employees, and was part of the team when it attended its first Grand Prix in Monaco in 1966. He left shortly after Ron Dennis took control to run his own Indycar team with Teddy Mayer, and later was one of the founders of the Beatrice Haas F1 team. He then returned to McLaren, and remained at Woking until his retirement.

We wish him a speedy recovery.

Bernie Ecclestone says that the Azerbaijan capital of Baku will host a Grand Prix within the next two years.

Flavio Briatore was reportedly involved in brokering the deal.

“We’re going to Azerbaijan,” Ecclestone was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail. “The people out there are talking about holding a race in 2015. That may be a bit soon — unless it’s at the end of the season, that’s a possibility. But 2016 is more likely.”

Baku hosted a non-championship GT street race in 2012, organised by the Berlin-based City Challenge organisation. Last year it was the venue of the final round of the FIA GT championship, utilising a longer 4.3kms track.

After the disastrous start in Jerez Renault has been playing catch-up over the two Bahrain tests, and while its teams eventually logged some mileage there’s no escaping the fact that none has come close to the pace set by the Mercedes teams, or by Ferrari. Here’s a Q&A with Rob White issued by the manufacturer.

How was the second Bahrain test from a Renault perspective?

“The aim of the last test session before Australia was to recover some of the lost ground from the previous test sessions and to rehearse the Grand Prix. We wanted each of our four teams to be able to approach a normal race weekend without having to improvise any of the procedures or operations needed. We can’t escape the fact that we did not complete the entire programme with all the teams and that some Melbourne preparations are incomplete. On the up-side, we have done some of everything, with simulations of qualifying sessions, starts, race distances and long stints and it is fair to say that once again we have made some real progress. We have cured or found workarounds for some of the problems we had previously identified. New problems revealed as we ran more have added to the unsolved items, and have disrupted running, which is disappointing for our teams.”

Have there been any major issues this time round?

“In terms of down-time, we see that minor incidents can veer off into major ones and cause significant downtime. This is an example of the immaturity of our PU; we do not have all of the fail-safe and limp-home modes we would consider normal in this stage. This contributes to the loss of track time when a small issue does occur. As we go forward we expect to be able to take these things in our stride rather than have a major failure as a result of minor problem. When running, this immaturity makes itself known as shortcomings in torque delivery or ‘driveability’, which make it tricky for the drivers to find the performance limit of the car.”

And what have been the key learnings [sic] over the testing period?

“We have started to converge on a configuration of car that is more like when we have run the engine back on the dynos in Viry. We’ve increased the level of performance at which the PU can be operated, and we’ve made strides in terms of how energy is managed round the circuit. Additionally we have made some headway on troubleshooting our control systems.”

What is the plan now pre Melbourne?

“Between now and Melbourne we have a number of items to cover. We need to consolidate all of the lessons learned across all the teams. We need to review all the accumulated data and compare and contrast to get the best out of it so the starting point for all of the Renault-powered cars is as good as it can be. Second, we must progress further on the torque delivery of the PU felt by the drivers. This will include software and calibration work, with simulator and dyno and validation. Thirdly there is the logistical challenge of getting the race Power Units built and shipped to Australia. That process is well under way and will be finished next week.”

Has the Renault Energy F1-2014 Power Unit undergone the necessary homologation process?

“Yes, the relevant documents and a reference Power Unit have been submitted to the FIA within the deadlines in the Sporting Rules.”

What are your hopes for Melbourne?

“Melbourne will be an anxious weekend! Conducting a normal race weekend, in which both cars run well during each session for every team, would be a great relief. I hope we can support our teams and drivers to explore the performance of the car and allow the race to deliver its sporting verdict.”